WOODPECKERS - HOW DO YOU KEEP THEM AWAY?

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Llamaman

Member
Oct 6, 2009
141
MA
Hi woodheads - any good ways to keep them from the house? they are putting holes in wall by my computer............just went out and chased away a little pecker! seriously, who know how to keep them away? thanks
 
They have to be at something to eat. Peckers as you call them dont just knock on wood to hear the sound. Look at where they are pecking and see if you see anything like bug holes or such. Spray some kind of bug spray on the holes that will kill what is there hopefully and keep the woodpeckers away.

Shipper
 
What kind of siding do you have? Shingle, clapboard? Can you pull one up to see if there are bugs in the area?

Matt
 
My wife said some woodpeckers actually do it as a mating call, and a short google search implied some of the same. So there may not necessarily be bugs in your walls. I have wood siding and they do that all the time, and it looks like the previous owner used a stain to fill up the holes pretty frequently (you can see random streaks of stain all over the side and back of the house, in horizontal lines where the woodpecker kept moving) ... reminds me I really need to get out there soon and fill those up before bugs really do get inside.
 
I have a wood pecker poking hole in my cedar mail box. I think its the same one for the last 2 years. He keeps working on the same area. I repair it and he knocks out the repair
 
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:gulp:
 
Ha! Our siding is Pecky Cypress (aka "Swamp Wood) which has natural grooves in it. (Looks like the first picture, here: http://www.floridacypress.com/About Cypress.htm
The woodpeckers around here, at this time of year, bring in pieces of leaves or whatever, and stuff the grooves with what looks like chewed up leaves. So our 'brown' wood has 'green' streaks in it. :) Come Spring, they will be back and nibbling on their stored 'goodies'.

Shari
 
My neighbors and I all have the same problem. They like to peck near the corners of the house, especially closest to the woods. When they excavate a large hole it is not feeding behavior. I put a couple of fake owls on the back law and hung something that looks like a yellow beach-ball, with silver eyes. They're on the side of the house, closest to the woods, and not really visible from the street. They havn't touched the house since I put them up. You have to do something or they will excavate right into the insulation and probably move to another spot.
 
I don't think there'd be much left to eat if you happened to hit one at fairly close range....... :)

The wood peckers here tend to stay on the suet cakes I put out. They do nest and eat in some dead cottonwood trees we have out back. We saw a pilated woodpecker a bunch this spring, I don't know if it nested here or not.

N
 
"well, i got that dang woodpecker, but now how do I fix this hole in my house?"
 
Llamaman is a herbivore but would be willing to make an exception for some BBQ'd woodpecker with some Frank's hot sauce
 
Danno77 said:
"well, i got that dang woodpecker, but now how do I fix this hole in my house?"
A product called "Plastic wood" works really well. Found at the Big box stores along with spackle and that stuff. I just apply it with my fingers, and paint over it when it dries.
 
CTburns said:
Danno77 said:
"well, i got that dang woodpecker, but now how do I fix this hole in my house?"
A product called "Plastic wood" works really well. Found at the Big box stores along with spackle and that stuff. I just apply it with my fingers, and paint over it when it dries.
thanks CT, i don't have a woodpecker problem, i realize now that it was a poorly administered joke. I meant to indicate that I'd shot the woodpecker with a gun and also left a gunshot hole in the house....

BUT, in terms of fixing holes one idea that I use for restoring windows is to mix bondo with sawdust. works well.
 
Danno77 said:
CTburns said:
Danno77 said:
"well, i got that dang woodpecker, but now how do I fix this hole in my house?"
A product called "Plastic wood" works really well. Found at the Big box stores along with spackle and that stuff. I just apply it with my fingers, and paint over it when it dries.
thanks CT, i don't have a woodpecker problem, i realize now that it was a poorly administered joke. I meant to indicate that I'd shot the woodpecker with a gun and also left a gunshot hole in the house....

BUT, in terms of fixing holes one idea that I use for restoring windows is to mix bondo with sawdust. works well.
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I used to shoot them with a pellet gun Danno, but there would always be 5 more to take it's place! I'm sure that the neighbors walking by probably thought I was nuts for staking-out and shooting at the front of my house. Nobody ever asked me what the hell I was doing!
 
Hang some of this up along the house and it should do the trick very nicely. We use it in strawberries, raspberries and fruit trees and have had excellent results so it should work for woodpeckers too. It is the changing of colors that seems to scare them. This stuff is very good and can be used over and over.

Bird flash tape
 
Cedar shake house here . . . but no issues with the downy, hairy or occasional pileated woodpecker that passes by . . . of course I also have some nice suet cakes for them at the cat feeder which they tend to congregate at and enjoy.
 
We have several bird feeders. That keeps all the birds and my wife very happy.
 
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